The latest news in the sordid BlackBerry/RIM vs. NTP affair is that on Friday U.S. District Judge James Spencer upbraided RIM and NTP for not coming to a settlement but decided to delay his decision on whether to shutdown RIM’s BlackBerry network.

So BlackBerry lives to deliver mail for another day (and an impending shutdown appears less likely than it did a week ago). However, my question is whether this whole affair is giving IT departments the jitters and causing them to start considering BlackBerry alternatives even before the final verdict decends from the courts. This week’s TechRepublic poll asks, “If you use a BlackBerry, what are your plans if the service ends?” and we have a discussion thread on this topic as well. Pop into the discussion and let us know how your IT department is dealing with this potential BlackBerry crisis.